Well, here goes. I really resent the term, but I use it because it’s recognized and accepted. I’m gay. From some seventy years of personal experience, I can tell you that there’s not much “gay” about being homosexual. For the first twenty years of my life, I had to live in the shadows, in a culture that was — at least outwardly — totally hostile to any hint of that variation of life-style. At no time did I choose to adopt any protective coloration, though; my cultivation of an abundant beard was not at all a deception, but part of my costume as a conjuror. Gradually, the general attitude that I’d perceived around me began to change, and presently I find that there has emerged a distinctly healthy acceptance of different social styles of...

Patricia Putts, a woman who thinks that she can find out personal details about people by simply being near them and listening to their voices will do a preliminary test which may lead to her winning the coveted 1 million dollar JREF prize. The idea for the JREF prize comes from the brain of world-renowned magician and paranormal investigator James Randi, a Toronto native who lives in Florida. This prize is awarded:

to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event.

The idea behind the prize is a simple one. A large number of people believe in paranormal powers. Scientists have tried to find these powers for decades now and they have all been disillusioned. Yet, many people continue...

Had a rather unexpected encounter with Uri Geller last week. He wants me to work on a writing project - nothing to do with the paranormal, but it should be interesting. He has an apartment in central London near the river, with a spectacular view across the city, although I don't think he spends much time there. He was what I expected - tall and wiry, pleasant, outgoing, enthusiastic, intense, mentally sitting on the edge of his chair, as I was physically sitting on the edge of mine (his sofa was not made for comfort). No question, the guy relates on another level to most people: we parted with a hug, which doesn't often happen to me on an initial business meeting (OK, it's never happened).

It got me thinking about what a phenomenon Geller is. By chance I had...

San Diego attorney photographing a "prism in the sky" at his beachfront condo four miles south of Rosarito Beach, Baja, Mexico, at Calafia, caught what appears to be an outstretched arm and hand.

The photos he snapped on Feb. 5, 2009, were so unusual, he is referring to them as the "hand of God." Several things of interest to look for in the images below: the shape of an arm and hand, a blue beam of light, and some purple patches of light in the sky. The following is the witness testimony with only minor edits made. Selected photos follow his story.

On February 4, 2009, my girlfriend and I drove from downtown San Diego to my condo at Calafia. We left San Diego at approximately 3:00 p.m. As we were driving south from San Diego, beginning almost...

It seems that every month or two some new piece of evidence surfaces that promises to shed light on an unexplained mystery: A miraculous healing story here, a Borneo river monster photo there. Yet like the proverbial carrot before the donkey, final evidence is always in sight but never obtained. For decades, UFO buffs have claimed that conclusive proof of alien life is just around the corner.

They believe that the "truth will be revealed" — either by extraterrestrials finally making themselves known (a visit to the White House lawn or Times Square might be on the agenda), or by the world's governments ending their conspiracy of silence and letting the public see the real evidence and alien bodies they've had on ice since 1947. For decades, New Agers have...

A long tussle concerning the validity of Homeopathy between the world`s most famous homeopath and probably the world`s most well known `quackbuster` appears to have come to head in December 2008 after 5 years of to-ing and fro-ing. On the one side is Homeopath George Vithoulkas, whose International Academy for Classical Homeopathy is based on the island of Alonissos in Greece. On the other is American magician and skeptic, James Randi who heads what he calls The James Randi Educational Foundation, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Vithoulkas and Randi are equally passionate in their diametrically opposed views and an easy meeting of minds was never very likely. For several years James Randi has had one million dollars on offer to anyone that can demonstrate...

It's a story likely to confirm whether you’re a true believer or a true sceptic. Twins Phil and Mick Cahalane, 45, possess a family photo with an intriguing story. According to the brothers, the photo was taken more than 100 years ago in Scotland and shows their great-grandfather with the image of a “saintly” figure. The pair first saw the photo as children, when their mother produced it at a family gathering. “What I heard was that he had gone on a boat trip out in the ocean somewhere and a really bad storm came through as he was fishing,” Phil, who lives in Quakers Hill, said. “He started praying because he thought he was going to die. The storm passed and because he thought it was safe, he kept fishing, and that’s when he caught most of his fish. “When he got to land he took...

Faith is probably the human race’s most endearing quality. Faith in God, faith in our children and even faith in our own ability No matter how often our faith lets us down, we can always have faith that things can only get better. Just look at Tony Blair, after his anus horribilis of 2006, here he is, two years on, picking up mega bucks for after dinner speaking gigs, and no doubt secretly gloating over how much better things were with him in power. He may be too humble to confirm whether any mutual praying went on with him and George Dubya, but he has always had incredible faith, in both himself and in his creator. I think he’s the Pope now.

Science one step behind

Science doesn’t deal in faith, it deals in facts. Verifiable, catalogued, corroborated facts....

The day after mediums marched on Downing Street, to protest against their possible ruination by legislation, it seemed apt that some of the finest proponents of scientific scepticism held their own gathering. The event in Conway Hall was billed as “An Evening with James Randi and Friends”. Randi—possibly the world’s most acclaimed scourge of psychics, healers and out-and-out chancers—was making a rare trip to the UK. He topped a bill of five renowned science communicators. MC for the evening was Richard Wiseman: psychologist, magician and investigator of ‘quirkology’. The first speaker was Chris French, Head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He put into context scepticism in the UK, drew attention to The Skeptic...

Fortune-tellers, mediums and spiritual healers marched on Downing Street on Friday to protest against new laws they fear will lead to them being "persecuted and prosecuted". Organisers say that replacing the Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951 with new consumer protection rules will remove key legal protection for "genuine" mediums. They think sceptics might bring malicious prosecutions to force spiritualists to prove in court that they can heal people, see into the future or talk to the dead. Psychics also fear they will have to give disclaimers describing their services as entertainment or as scientific experiments with unpredictable results. "If I'm giving a healing to someone, I don't want to have to stand there and say I don't believe in what...